Apartment developer in NSB dispute has successfully sued before

Atlantic Housing Partners has built more than 100 apartment complexes in six states, including Newport Sound in New Smyrna Beach and eight others in Volusia and Flagler counties.

RICHARD CONNSTAFF WRITER

NEW SMYRNA BEACH — A development company that filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the city claiming it violated state and federal Fair Housing Acts by blocking an apartment complex it planned on the North Causeway has also sued three other Florida municipalities on similar grounds. Atlantic Housing Partners filed the suit in U.S. District Court last week claiming racial discrimination because New Smyrna Beach officials did not approve changes to a development agreement and grant a parking variance needed for the company to build a 239-unit apartment complex called Causeway Landings. That project includes affordable housing. Atlantic Housing Partners has built more than 100 apartment complexes in six states, including Newport Sound in New Smyrna Beach and eight others in Volusia and Flagler counties. The company has also filed suits against the cities of Oviedo, Rockledge and Winter Springs claiming violation of the Fair Housing Act. In 2009, the company sued Oviedo claiming the city forced it to build owner-occupied townhomes and condominiums instead of a low-income apartment complex. Oviedo City Attorney Lonnie Groot said a federal judge entered a summary in 2010 in favor of the city, ruling the developer had actually agreed to a stipulation that the units would be owner-occupied when the city initially approved plans for the development. Despite the ruling, the Oviedo City Council in 2010 eventually agreed to remove the owner-occupied requirement, and Atlantic Housing Partners' development Covington Club was built as an affordable townhouse project with 94-rental units. "The city acted upon a revised application to take that owner-occupied requirement out and things got worked out," Groot said. Dominic Persampiere, then Oviedo's deputy mayor, was named as a defendant in the lawsuit and his wife was subpoenaed as a witness. Persampiere, who is now Oviedo's mayor, could not be reached for comment Thursday. "It was not pleasant for a while," Groot said of the lawsuit. Atlantic Housing Partners also filed a federal discrimination suit against the city of Rockledge in 2008, claiming officials blocked its 122-unit affordable apartment complex Hammock Harbor. Rockledge City Attorney Joe Miniclier said at issue was a dispute over ownership of a 50-foot strip of property that ran through the middle of the proposed development site. Miniclier said the city actually owned the easement and city officials rejected the project because the developer didn't own the entire piece of property. However, the two sides eventually reached a settlement and Hammock Harbor was built. "We were able to work things out and we got paid for our property," Miniclier said. "They got the development order issued but with some negotiated changes." As was the case in New Smyrna Beach with Causeway Landings, surrounding residents vigorously opposed the Hammock Harbor project. "All of the problems that the (neighboring) homeowners had really never materialized and it's been a nice project for the city, actually," Miniclier said. Atlantic Housing Partners also filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Winter Springs after the city commission there ruled in 2010 that the affordable apartment complex the company planned to build didn't comply with the city's comprehensive plan, said Winter Springs City Attorney Anthony Garganese. Garganese said the city and the developer reached a settlement after the company agreed move the project to another site about three miles down the road on State Road 434. Atlantic Housing Partners built the 84-unit Moss Park apartment complex in 2012, according to the company's website. In the suit against New Smyrna Beach, Atlantic Housing Partners claims in part that the city violated the federal Fair Housing Act by "discriminating against racial minorities, the result of which was to cause Causeway Landings to lose federal financing sources" to finance the apartment complex. City commissioners unanimously voted against Atlantic Housing Partners' request to amend a development agreement that would have in part removed a cap on the number of units that could be built on the site at 202. The Planning and Zoning Board also unanimously voted down a requested variance to reduce the required number of parking spaces from 626 to 450. Planning Manager Gail Henrikson has said that aspects of Causeway Landings don't comply with the city's comprehensive plan, land development regulations or jibe with recommendations made in a 2004 study of the North Causeway. Scott Culp, one of the principals of Atlantic Housing Partners, couldn't be reached for comment Thursday, but said Wednesday that there could be a chance for mediation with New Smyrna Beach. "(The lawsuit) doesn't mean there couldn't be an opportunity for further discussions with the city," he said.